Playing main music and video files

From Mandriva Community Wiki

The purpose of this page is to install the main codecs to play most audio files (*.cda, *.wav, *.ogg, *.aif, *.aac, *.mp4, *.m4a, *.mp3, *.vqf, *.vql, *.vqe, *.wma, *.au, *mpc, *.ac3, ...) and video files (*.avi, divx, xvid, 3ivx, *.ogm, *.mkv, *.ram, *.rm, *.mov, DVD). Some of these files are read directly after the installation of Mandriva. These are free formats such as *. ogg files. For other formats, for most owners, it is necessary to install additional codecs. Note that the Powerpack edition incorporates a number of proprietary codecs. Please note! This page may be incomplete and some multimedia files may still be unreadable even after following the instructions on this page. If you know of a codec is missing on this page, please add it. Tip ! VLC is a media player incorporating most audio & video codecs, it can be a good alternative in case of problems.

Before continuing :

• Make sure you have previously added the complete set of media sources. You can find help for this on this page.
• You need to open a console as super-user (root) to copy/paste the following commands.

Installation of main codecs

At first, login as root in a console window. You should then install the main codecs by copying/pasting the following command :

[root@computer ~]# urpmi libdvbpsi7 libebml3 libmatroska4 win32-codecs real-codecs x264

If you are under GNOME or using GStreamer, there is one package that groups all of the main codecs. Look for gstreamer0.10-decoders and install it through the software manager, or type the following command as root :

[root@computer ~]# urpmi gstreamer0.10-decoders gstreamer0.10-decoders-audio

Installing codecs for KDE 4 applications

KDE 4 applications are based on Phonon, the new media technology environment. However, it is possible that Phonon is not entirely installed during the installation of your system. You can then run the following command :

[root@computer ~]# urpmi phonon-xine-kcm phonon-gstreamer phonon-vlc libphonon4

Reading DVDs

Most Linux distributions have problems reading some DVDs encrypted and protected. Packages are available in the Mandriva repositories to overcome these difficulties. The following packages can be installed without problem. Always in a console mode root, and copy the following line:

[root@computer ~]# urpmi liba52dec0 libdvdread4 libdvdcss2 libdv4

More information

• In case of problems, you can always ask for help in the Mandriva forums.
• If you have got more information, feel free to improve/update this page.